Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 117494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
Fuck.
“No one’s here, like anyone,” he added, dropping his voice low. “We’ve reached out to all our allies. We’ve reached out to enemies, and they’re all saying the same. If they knew, they’d talk. And that’s just the ones who we can find. We’re kicking in doors. We’re uprooting everyone. This was all timed perfectly—had to be or we’d know by now who got Max.”
“Was he alone? How’d it go down? Let’s go over this again.”
Last time my mind had been elsewhere. Estrada took precedent. Then I thought about Kali.
“No one was with him,” Heckler said. “None of our guys. He went for a meet alone, and then we got a call from the hospital. I told you this.”
“You don’t know who the meet was with?”
“He didn’t tell anyone, and there’s nothing on his phone.”
“Who was he with before? He must’ve gotten a call?”
“He was with Wraith, but Chris just said Max’s phone went off, and he stepped away for the call. Then nothing. They went to eat, and Chris and my niece went home. Max was supposed to be with our guys, but he wasn’t. He never put the call out for them.”
“He lied to Chris?”
“Seems he did, and I believe Chris. Kess was there.”
Kess was Wraith’s woman, but also Heckler’s niece.
“You question the hospital?”
“They’re saying he was dropped off outside the doors. We asked for the security footage, but all the cameras were down. We bribed the guards for it and looked ourselves, but it’s a shit system. Worthless. A nurse knew who he was. She told the front desk to call us.”
“Who’s the nurse?’
“She knows the world. Her cousin’s in one of the prisons here. He’s connected.”
“Can you ask her to ask her cousin? All the gangs are together down there. He’d know something.”
“I’ll ask, but she’s skittish. Doesn’t want anything to do with us.”
“We gotta know.”
“We already know. Too many coincidences.”
He was probably right, but I had to be sure. “I can’t declare war now on the cartel if the shooter had nothing to do with the cartel.”
“We voted. It was going to happen anyway.”
Yeah, but when it was planned for. Not like this. We’d approached Gloves because he was the only one who could put it into action the way we wanted. “That planning was done for a reason,” I reminded Heckler. “We got brothers inside to protect.”
“You got a plan for handling him?”
I glanced back. Crow was waiting on the porch, a few of his guys with him.
“We’re heading into church now.”
“Got it,” Heckler confirmed. “Call me when you know. The guys were on the road all night. They’ll be pulling in around early afternoon.”
“Sounds good. I’ll let them know to prepare.”
We hung up, and as I walked toward him, Crow turned and led the way into his house, down to his basement, and through to a cellar type of room large enough to fit twenty members. The rest stood in the back. I took one of the seats at the end. Crow took the head seat as the rest trailed in. Every ranking member had a specific seat—VP, sergeant at arms, secretary, treasurer, road captain.
This was Frisco’s charter, their home, their church. So their VP would call church to start.
Crow did just that once the doors were shut. The room grew quiet, and he nodded, leaning forward. There was a gavel in front of him.
“Okay. Everyone here?” he asked.
A round of yeahs sounded, and he nodded again, looked over at me. “This here is a home-away-from-home sort of place. It’s off the books. We shouldn’t be connected to it. Now, y’all have heard about our surprise guest and what happened to the national prez, so I’ll give it over to Ghost. He’s in charge during these times.”
All eyes came my way.
I nodded. “As most of you probably heard already, Prez was shot yesterday.” I filled them in on what I knew about it. “Half our guys are coming. The others stayed back to guard him, but Estrada being here warrants a threat we can’t ignore.”
“And if it’s not him?” the Frisco road captain asked. “If there’s a different threat to the Prez?”
“He’ll go into hiding. They won’t make a move until I’m back. Heckler stayed for that reason. He’ll keep him safe.”
That seemed to appease the guys, and most looked Crow’s way.
He asked the question. “What’s the plan then?”
“We need to gather information, as much as possible. I want to know who Estrada was visiting near here. I want to know where his men are. I want to know everything we can get. Did you know he’s got local connections here?”
“Not at all, but it’s not that surprising,” Crow said. “They move through Tijuana.”
I nodded. Yeah. That was the problem.
“We need a plan for tonight,” Stripes piped up. “Just in case.” He was standing at my side, and he spoke to me, not Crow.